ALL About Shanghaî DIsneyland TRON Lightcycles Power Run Coaster Ride

It's an understatement to say that Shanghaî DIsneyland TRON Lightcycles Power Run ride is highly awaited and we'll have a closer look at it today. So far the video and pictures released this week have shown how will look what WDI Imagineers call the "Tron Cover", the translucent canopy over the outdoor part of the TRON coaster track. But what will happen in the big "box" of the show building was still a mystery. No more wait, dear D&M readers as thanks to this article you'll see almost all of what SDL guests who will embark on the TRON ride will see, and i have all pictures for you! No need to say that there WILL be spoilers below, so if you don't want to know anything it's time to jump to the next D&M article.
If you're looking - or did not read yet - my full report about Shanghaî Disneyland announcement last Wednesday with park artwork and attraction details, you'll find it HERE. Don't miss it, it's D&M longest article ever!

If you're still there, there we go and let's start by the official description of TRON Lightcycle Power Run? As usual, click on each pic to see them in bigger size:

With the world premiere of TRON Lightcycle Power Run, the future world comes to Tomorrowland, through the inspiring story of the Disney film TRON: Legacy.  Riding atop individual, two-wheeled Lightcycles, guests will be launched across a canopied section of track – the Upload Conduit – before diving high-speed into a mysterious game world of lights, projection and sound effects. Guests waiting to board will have fun imagining the future world as they listen to the evocative soundtrack and watch the Lightcycle trains twist and turn all around them, all under a color-shifting canopy. Even at a distance, guests will marvel at the massive, undulating canopy. Covered in a translucent material, it reveals the pulsing glow of Lightcycle trains as they zip through the attraction.  The entire canopy is edged in a dramatic, blue-green ribbon that changes color as it rolls across, over and around the Tron Plaza, like the tail of a dragon..

Above: three views of TRON Lightcycles Power Run canopy.

So… after going through TRON Lightcycles Power Run main entrance - and probably have wait a long time to arrive to this point…

…you will arrive at the boarding room. Actually, the queue will move first above the boarding room itself, and you'll be able to see the others guests boarding the lightcycles trains just below you. 

A view inside the boarding room, going down to embark on the trains.

All-right, it's boarding time for you, so all aboard!

By the way, let's have a closer look at how will look the "Lightcycles". WDI did a real good job to have them looking as close as possible as in the movie and guests will sit on the lightcycles in almost the same position than TRON heroes did in the movie. Thanks to a mechanism a part in the back will come on your back to hold you and make sure you won't fall during the ride.  

Apparently the storyline include two teams, and one of them is the "orange" one. At first sight this doesn't mean that TRON Lightcycles Power Run is a dueling coaster. My guess is that either the two teams are here essentially for the storyline, meaning that your team - the "blue" one - is "real" and the other - the "orange" one - is not… or that one train will be a "blue" team and the next one an "orange" team. But in both cases the two teams will be part of the ride storyline as we will see later.

Soon the train will be launched thanks to the now well known catapult system.

And after entering a specially lighted TRON tunnel…

…your train will move outside on the outdoor track under the translucent canopy.

And then will come the long awaited moment as your train will enter the show building itself, this big box that SDL guests will see behind and on the right of the TRON canopy. Below, a new rendering showing a scene inside the show building. 

Thanks to an amazing "fluorescent" TRON lighting you'll be immersed at "high-speed into a mysterious game world of lights, projection and sound effects."

It's not perfectly clear if each lightcycles will be equipped with a screen but apparently there should be one somewhere showing the race between the two lightcycles teams.

The "race" will continue…

…until one lightcycle of the yellow team - yes, apparently there is also a "yellow" team - the ones you can see on the top and bottom right of the picture below…

…will lose control…

…and crash and explode just before your train go through another TRON "gate"! 

No need to say that no real lightcycle will crash so it seem that we have here a projection effect that should be impressive if it's perfectly done.

The train will then enter another long tunnel leading to the ride ending.

If SDL Imagineers succeed to build the ride as it looks here on this WDI CGI movie we should have a memorable ride and, as there won't be any upside down loop during the ride, the coaster should be comfortable... if the riders position on the lightcycle is. 

That said, on a storyline point of view, there is still one thing that i find a bit hard to swallow and it's the fact that we embark in a boarding room all looking like being part of TRON and then we move out, seeing the "real" world, before entering again in the world of TRON. I'm curious to see how they will justify this and even if it should not be a too big problem at night, it will be different during daylight…

Anyway, all the above screen captures are coming from a new video released by Shanghaî Disneyland and as i'm sure you're dying to see all these scenes in movement, it's more than time time you have a look at the video below!





Picture and video: copyright Disney